At the Hannover Fair, ABB has announced a remote condition-monitoring service for variable-speed drives that will use the Internet of Things to provide real-time information about drive events, and help to predict their maintenance needs, operational risks and possible system faults. The service will provide expert reports on a drive’s condition and e-mail warnings of potential faults or restricted availability. It could, for example, spot overheating which could interrupt production and eventually damage a drive. It will also prevent some semiconductor faults.

ABB’s global service manager, Jaana Kivelä, describes the new service as “a great tool to enable the end-user to optimise maintenance schedules”. It will, he adds, “uncover opportunities for improvement that save both time and money” and is “the best way to move towards an information-based maintenance strategy”.

ABB says that the new VSD service - combined with its smart LV motor sensors (also launched at Hannover) - will help industrial users to move towards information-based maintenance strategies based on the Internet of Things, Services and People (IoTSP). Both services use preventive maintenance to ensure better availability and longer lifetimes for equipment, and to improve performance and productivity.

After a user’s monitoring needs have been assessed, an ABB expert will discuss the set-up that is most relevant to achieve their aims. The service can be tailored to meet specific needs.

ABB's new service allows drives users to monitor the condition of their VSDs on mobile devices

Once a personal account has been set up on the myABB Customer Portal, users can monitor live data from their VSDs - such as availability, condition, operating parameters and faults - on laptops, desktops or mobile devices. Customised performance reports with charts and graphs can also be generated.